Law of Color

11/21/2010

B.CHOUDHURY

 A brand should use a color that is the opposite of its major competitors
- Al & Laura Reis : The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding

11/21/2010

B.CHOUDHURY

There are 5 basic colors:

1.Red 2.Orange 3.Yellow 4.Green 5.Blue and the Neutral Black White and Grey
It is best to stick to one of the 5 primary colors.
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Colors on the red end of the spectrum are focused slightly behind the retina. Therefore, a red color appears to move towards your eyes while youre looking at it. The blue end of the spectrum is focused slightly in front of the retina. A blue color appears to move away from you. Because of this, Red is the color of energy and excitement. Blue is the opposite of red peaceful and tranquil. In the world of brands, red is a retail color, used to attract attention. Blue is a corporate color used to communicate stability.

11/21/2010

B.CHOUDHURY

The other primary colors are in between. Orange is more like red than blue and Green is more like blue than red. Yellow is neutral. Its also the brightest. When selecting a color for a brand or a logo, managers usually focus on the mood they want to establish rather than the unique identity they want to create. While mood is important, other factors may be even more important.

Leaders have first choice. Normally the best color to select is the one that is most symbolic of the category. (Its more important to create a separate brand identity, however, than it is to use the right symbolic color)
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There is a powerful logic for selecting a color that is the opposite of your major competitors. CocaCola has been using red for over a hundred years. Pepsi made a poor choice, it picked red and blue as its colors. For years Pepsi has struggled with a less-than-ideal response to Coke. The lack of a unique differentiating color tends to make Pepsi invisible in a sea of Coca Cola red. Recently Pepsi has seen the light, or rather the color. Its going blue. It even painted a Concorde supersonic jet blue to carry the color message to bottlers around the world.
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11/21/2010

B.CHOUDHURY

There is a powerful logic for selecting a color that is the opposite of your major competitors.

Be the opposite : Kodak is yellow, so Fuji is green.

While a single color is almost always the best color strategy for a brand, sometimes you can make a case for multiple colors. Federal Express, the first overnight package delivery company, wanted its packages to stand out on the recipients desk, so it combined the two most shocking colors it could find, orange and purple. Color consistency over the long run can help a brand burn its way into the mind.
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